I don't like to drive far from home during the day unless it is to Vegas. I had reason to drive a bit today to see a couple of business associate and friends. One of the men operates a rather large family owned business. I used to meet with his father a couple of times a year and always enjoyed our positioning and our conversations and time together. I had not been to their offices since his father died. It was a sad day and brought up all kinds of emotions in me. Not just about the man who passed away; but, also all that had gone on in my life since I first met him.
We met and went to lunch. We talked about some business issues, things that need to be finished before I retire, life changes and financial news matters with predictions about the future. Our one hour meeting ended up going on for hours and I left just in time to face all the heavy traffic for my long ride home. It was a good conversation and a good opportunity to reconnect. I had delayed the meeting and am sure that on some level it was because I knew it would bring back memories.
We talked a little about the new transportation funding program MAP-21. The bill makes local right of ways, known as arterials, part of the National Highway System. MAP-21 - Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century. It also changes rules related to funding pensions. Spencer Fane, Britt and Browne - MAP-21: Pension Funding Relief … and Much More.
Recently, I read an article about how some scientists are predicting that going to see riots. Motherboard - We Are Now One Year Away From Global Riots, Complex Systems Theorists Say. They predict that when food prices rise again there will be riots. It talks about the riots that happened in Egypt when food prices soared; but, it leaves out all the other reasons for the revolt. No one thing is to blame when we see governments ousted, it takes a number of failures of those in charge.
Now here is a news story regarding something I wrote about before. Yahoo - Plugged In - Microsoft’s ‘IllumiRoom’ tech extends games beyond your TV. Buy one of these little suckers and your 250 square foot apartment will feel like the great outdoors as your X-Box makes your room look like any environment you want.
BBC - Future - Cars turn to augmented reality
. Why do we need augmented and virtual worlds, doesn't reality work for anyone anymore? People are trading in the real world for a make believe one. One where they are in charge, strong, powerful, beautiful, intelligent and anything else they can imagine. As young people find this their most important world, the real world will be ruled by fewer and fewer.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Weekly Recap of the News and stuff
MIT Technology Review - Samsung Demos a Tablet Controlled by Your Brain. Why would you want anyone to be able to read your brain?
Reuters - Merkel says euro members must be prepared to cede sovereignty. Heck, a politician named Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), has been saying that this is what the EU has wanted to do all along. I guess he was right.
Wired - New Life for the L.A. River. I wrote about this at the time. A couple of kayakers went down some of the L.A. River with the intent of proving it a navigable river. The problem is that it is not a river, 99% of it is a storm drain system that was built of concrete by the army corp of engineers to prevent flooding. As they explain in the article, the purpose of the kayaking trip was to make a bogus claim and place the system under federal control.
Wired - How Federal Distracted-Driving Guidelines Will Shape Your Next Phone.
Wired - How Ray Kurzweil Will Help Google Make the Ultimate AI Brain. Google is attempting to create a self aware computer brain; but, it will not work, it will not be self aware.
Forbes - GOP's Dave Camp: Why Not Put All Federal Employees Onto Obamacare's Exchanges?. This was too obvious and I even wrote that this is how it would end when the healthcare bill was passed.
Pension Rights Center - Pension Provisions in H.R. 4348 – Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act. There is a bill which funds highway repair. It does a few interesting other things. Firstly it declares many local roads to be part of the National Highway System. It also changes the interest rates of the future in regards to pension plans. It says that organizations are putting too much into the pension plans because they assumed higher interest rates than we have experienced. Now, if we experience inflation in the future and interest rates rise, all these pension plans will find themselves underfunded and you watch, down the road the government is going to nationalize all pensions and retirement accounts.
Rolling Stone - Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever
. A nice little article explaining how the rates for everything, money, gold, whatever, are all fixed by a very few people. Ahhh, but what do they see as the solution.
x.republic - Farage: Eurocrats' Cyprus cash grab a template for future stealing. A short video where Nigel Farage says that the EU plans on taking money out of your bank account to bail in banks. You as a depositor lose some money but get stock in the bank. That is what happened in Cyprus.
CBS Los Angeles - Hawthorne Schools Speed Up Lunch Line With Palm Scanners. Now kids can look forward to being monitored by cameras non-stop in their schools and using their biometrics just to get lunch.
Sorry it was not more fascinating. I have had a busy week and lots to do. I will leave you with this comedian, a young man from Britain with Cerebral Palsy, we don't get a lot of choices over what the world hands us; but, we do get to choose how we handle it. This guy is amazingly funny and original. Huffington Post - Britain's Got Talent - Jack Carroll, 14-Year-Old 'Britain's Got Talent' Contestant And Comedian, Is Our New Hero (VIDEO)
Reuters - Merkel says euro members must be prepared to cede sovereignty. Heck, a politician named Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), has been saying that this is what the EU has wanted to do all along. I guess he was right.
Wired - New Life for the L.A. River. I wrote about this at the time. A couple of kayakers went down some of the L.A. River with the intent of proving it a navigable river. The problem is that it is not a river, 99% of it is a storm drain system that was built of concrete by the army corp of engineers to prevent flooding. As they explain in the article, the purpose of the kayaking trip was to make a bogus claim and place the system under federal control.
Wired - How Federal Distracted-Driving Guidelines Will Shape Your Next Phone.
Wired - How Ray Kurzweil Will Help Google Make the Ultimate AI Brain. Google is attempting to create a self aware computer brain; but, it will not work, it will not be self aware.
Forbes - GOP's Dave Camp: Why Not Put All Federal Employees Onto Obamacare's Exchanges?. This was too obvious and I even wrote that this is how it would end when the healthcare bill was passed.
Pension Rights Center - Pension Provisions in H.R. 4348 – Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act. There is a bill which funds highway repair. It does a few interesting other things. Firstly it declares many local roads to be part of the National Highway System. It also changes the interest rates of the future in regards to pension plans. It says that organizations are putting too much into the pension plans because they assumed higher interest rates than we have experienced. Now, if we experience inflation in the future and interest rates rise, all these pension plans will find themselves underfunded and you watch, down the road the government is going to nationalize all pensions and retirement accounts.
Rolling Stone - Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever
. A nice little article explaining how the rates for everything, money, gold, whatever, are all fixed by a very few people. Ahhh, but what do they see as the solution.
x.republic - Farage: Eurocrats' Cyprus cash grab a template for future stealing. A short video where Nigel Farage says that the EU plans on taking money out of your bank account to bail in banks. You as a depositor lose some money but get stock in the bank. That is what happened in Cyprus.
CBS Los Angeles - Hawthorne Schools Speed Up Lunch Line With Palm Scanners. Now kids can look forward to being monitored by cameras non-stop in their schools and using their biometrics just to get lunch.
Sorry it was not more fascinating. I have had a busy week and lots to do. I will leave you with this comedian, a young man from Britain with Cerebral Palsy, we don't get a lot of choices over what the world hands us; but, we do get to choose how we handle it. This guy is amazingly funny and original. Huffington Post - Britain's Got Talent - Jack Carroll, 14-Year-Old 'Britain's Got Talent' Contestant And Comedian, Is Our New Hero (VIDEO)
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Science questions
Here is a scientific question for you. The only we can absolutely know is that we experience things, changes in what we believe exists around us. If we accept that what we experience is real then we might believe in the big bang theory. That the universe appeared from nothing and existed in multiple universes (Stephen Hawking is still a douche). Here is the question, if the universe began from nothing then why couldn't it have stayed nothing? Why should anything exist including and especially the one thing that we can prove exists, us.
You could prove to me that you do not exist; but, how could anyone ever prove to themselves that they do not exist. It is the first principal of philosophy. If you accept science then it is impossible to prove that there was ever nothing. If there are material objects now then why couldn't there have always been material objects? Science says that everything came from nothing. Christianity says that God always was. Einstein said that energy could neither be created nor destroyed. I think he is a respected scientist and yet he contradicts the big bang by saying that something cannot come from nothing in a physical world.
In a world of consciousness anything can be created and destroyed. My question for any scientist that believes in the big bang is why do you believe there was a time when nothing existed and accept that energy can neither be created nor destroyed and if you don't believe those two things than do you believe Einstein was wrong? For Einstein to say what he did then energy must have a been a constant in all of his calculations.
You could prove to me that you do not exist; but, how could anyone ever prove to themselves that they do not exist. It is the first principal of philosophy. If you accept science then it is impossible to prove that there was ever nothing. If there are material objects now then why couldn't there have always been material objects? Science says that everything came from nothing. Christianity says that God always was. Einstein said that energy could neither be created nor destroyed. I think he is a respected scientist and yet he contradicts the big bang by saying that something cannot come from nothing in a physical world.
In a world of consciousness anything can be created and destroyed. My question for any scientist that believes in the big bang is why do you believe there was a time when nothing existed and accept that energy can neither be created nor destroyed and if you don't believe those two things than do you believe Einstein was wrong? For Einstein to say what he did then energy must have a been a constant in all of his calculations.
Some Young Ladies and Conspiracies
I was shopping today and as I was checking out, the clerk made a minor mistake. The minor mistake resulted in a lot of extra work for her and she had to call over her supervisor. They thanked me for being so patient and I joked with them a little. The ladies were in their twenties and very polite and charming. I assured them I was in no hurry. Nothing seemed to go right for them and they ended up having to call someone to fix the mistake. As all this was going on one of them mentioned something about her being into conspiracy theories. She mentioned that she spent a fair amount of time researching such things. I warned her not listen to Alex Jones or other alarmists.
They continued to attempt to fix the problem and it probably took from ten to fifteen minutes. Somehow time seems longer once you have already checked out and paid for your goods. Still, these things do happen and further rattling the sales clerk would only have made her job harder and increased the risk of further delays. I certainly not like having to face inpatient customers all day, being patient when mistakes occur is right and just makes sense and you get an opportunity to meet people. I got to meet these two young ladies and discover that they were trying to understand their world around them at a deeper level than most. I believe we should support these types of things. So, I gave them my blog address and some things to search online.
There are people out there who drive viewership by over-sensationalizing everything. When the Boston marathon bombing occurred there were immediately people posting on the internet that it was a "false flag" operation. The most famous "false flag" event is supposed to be when the German congress was burned down and it was blamed on a mentally disabled communist. It is claimed that Hitler set fire to the congress to blame "the enemy" and get more power. The truth is that the government has done such things; but, not every tragedy is a trick. It is not about distrusting government, it is about making an effort to understand how things work.
I wrote down the blog address and some things to search. I said they should search the IMF and "The Chicago Plan". The purpose was twofold. Firstly, I wanted to show them to search for source documents, read your opponents words in his own words. The second reason was to demonstrate the use of Boolean search techniques. The combing of seemingly unrelated things to find where there is a commonality. I have found that more and more people under 30 just type in their questions to search engines or their questions take a position on what they are searching. Of course there was also the obvious intent to have them see the actual plan for the coming currency collapse as published by the IMF.
My preference for my readers is that they always check out the articles that I link to so that they can question the validity of my sources that I base my later opinions on. Their take on the articles may be different than mine and I always enjoy comments posted on my blog.
Should either or both of the young ladies visit the site, I want to give them a brief summary of what I write about. Everything. The main interests, so far, have been the world economy, technology, pension fraud and spin in the media. Sometimes I just post songs or try and make sense of more personal issues, sometimes, I even talk about God. The blog is anonymous and to the vast majority, people who do not know me personally, I am also anonymous. This blog makes no money, will not make money and has never been for profit or made any money. The blog is written in little more than the time it takes to type it and I don't go back and check my punctuation or if I typed things correctly. The famous comedian, W.C. Fields was once asked if he was a Democrat or a Republican, he said neither, he said he was a drunkard. I don't have a party and am neither liberal nor conservative nor moderate. I consider myself a moderate extremists, the answer depends on the question and what the best solution is for all.
They continued to attempt to fix the problem and it probably took from ten to fifteen minutes. Somehow time seems longer once you have already checked out and paid for your goods. Still, these things do happen and further rattling the sales clerk would only have made her job harder and increased the risk of further delays. I certainly not like having to face inpatient customers all day, being patient when mistakes occur is right and just makes sense and you get an opportunity to meet people. I got to meet these two young ladies and discover that they were trying to understand their world around them at a deeper level than most. I believe we should support these types of things. So, I gave them my blog address and some things to search online.
There are people out there who drive viewership by over-sensationalizing everything. When the Boston marathon bombing occurred there were immediately people posting on the internet that it was a "false flag" operation. The most famous "false flag" event is supposed to be when the German congress was burned down and it was blamed on a mentally disabled communist. It is claimed that Hitler set fire to the congress to blame "the enemy" and get more power. The truth is that the government has done such things; but, not every tragedy is a trick. It is not about distrusting government, it is about making an effort to understand how things work.
I wrote down the blog address and some things to search. I said they should search the IMF and "The Chicago Plan". The purpose was twofold. Firstly, I wanted to show them to search for source documents, read your opponents words in his own words. The second reason was to demonstrate the use of Boolean search techniques. The combing of seemingly unrelated things to find where there is a commonality. I have found that more and more people under 30 just type in their questions to search engines or their questions take a position on what they are searching. Of course there was also the obvious intent to have them see the actual plan for the coming currency collapse as published by the IMF.
My preference for my readers is that they always check out the articles that I link to so that they can question the validity of my sources that I base my later opinions on. Their take on the articles may be different than mine and I always enjoy comments posted on my blog.
Should either or both of the young ladies visit the site, I want to give them a brief summary of what I write about. Everything. The main interests, so far, have been the world economy, technology, pension fraud and spin in the media. Sometimes I just post songs or try and make sense of more personal issues, sometimes, I even talk about God. The blog is anonymous and to the vast majority, people who do not know me personally, I am also anonymous. This blog makes no money, will not make money and has never been for profit or made any money. The blog is written in little more than the time it takes to type it and I don't go back and check my punctuation or if I typed things correctly. The famous comedian, W.C. Fields was once asked if he was a Democrat or a Republican, he said neither, he said he was a drunkard. I don't have a party and am neither liberal nor conservative nor moderate. I consider myself a moderate extremists, the answer depends on the question and what the best solution is for all.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Just News for you to enjoy
I must apologize for not spending the time analyzing the news that I used to. Lots of it is just things I posted about before. It is like Google Glasses, lots of news about it as it is released; but, I said most of what I had to say before it was even released. I really view most of my posts as merely updates anymore. Most of what I have written about for the past five years is now directly upon us.
What we are interring is a revolution. It will be like the industrial revolution or the technological revolution; but, this time we don't end better off. We are entering a time when society does not need as many people to continue advancing technologically, industrially and intellectually (or so many believe). We are entering a time when we will have fewer children and in exchange we will live longer and we will work longer.
Lets say that you could live to be 300 years old and in good health; but, you were only allowed to have the magic potion that allowed you to do this if you agreed to have no children, would you do it? What if you could truly sell your unborn children's future and live their life span? When Bush was president he gave aid to Africa; but, the condition was that as their life span approached ours, we would give less aid. It was the first time we ever connected lifespan to aid. I wrote a post on it a long time ago and I am not even sure if it is on this version of the blog.
I am not against technology, I am not against having a one world electronic currency, I am not against a lot of things I comment on. I am against us making decisions on these issues based upon alarmist and last minute information. I am against being given deceitful explanations of what is going on that appeal to our biases and obsessions. I think the questions I ask are much more important that the facts I present, the answers define who we are and that matters for eternity.
Yahoo - Reuters - Analysts discuss paradigm shift: breaking up banks. This is just confirmation that the IMF and FDIC-Bank of England plan is going to happen.
The Weekly Standard - Kerry Welcomes Chinese Investment in America's Infrastructure. Kerry says that the Chinese should invest in our infrastructure projects because they will make money from it. Hmmmm, does that mean that all roads will be toll roads? Does that mean that our future infrastructure must be making a profit. Well, read that article and that is what Kerry says, he says all of these projects will be profit making. Think about it.
Huffington Post - Boston Explosions: Cellphones' Service Shut Down In City, Official Says. Okay, simple thing. In the future if a city has an emergency, they might shut off all cellphone service for that city. If they did it once, they could do it again.
Wired - Quirky Partnership Democratizes the Invention of Internet-Connected Devices. Hooray, everything you own can now be connected to the internet, what a surprise.
Cnn - Google boss: Entire world will be online by 2020. And everyone will have internet accessibility by 2020. Then we can all be tracked and monitored and predicted.
Yahoo - Daily Ticker - Sheila Bair on Why the “Vampire Squid” is NOT Too Big To Fail. This is the former head of the FDIC talking about how they will let banks fail and use the FDIC-Bank of England agreement to expedite their bankruptcies and takeovers.
Huffington Post - Galaxy S4 Features: All The New Things That Samsung's Latest Smartphone Can Do. The next Galaxy phone will watch your hand movements and gestures. It also monitors your fitness and how much you are walking. It will also translate voice and writing. With the upcoming healthcare changes, this phone could be used to prove you are not smoking, are walking and are eating properly in order to reduce your health insurance costs, your employer will probably demand it of you.
The Telegraph - Fed and Bank of Japan caused gold crash. Basically the article says that Japan and the Federal Reserve caused the crash in gold prices by printing too much money. You see the coming currency crash is planned and gold will not help you.
Huffington Post - Top Fed Official Warns Of Tougher Capital Requirements For Biggest Banks. Basically banks only need to keep about 10% of the total amount that they have in cash, the rest is in investments and loans. By increasing how much the banks have to keep in cash this will also reduce how much banks can loan. Now consider this action in conjunction with the IMF and FDIC-Bank of England plans and you can see that they are preparing for when the big banks fail. You will get X amount of your savings taken away and in exchange you will get X amount of stock in the bank which will then provide you with a return as people pay off their debts to the banks.
Wired - Meet the First Digital Generation. Now Get Ready to Play by Their Rules.
Huffington Post - Obama's Big Bank Opportunity. More on how we need to break up the "big banks". It is all just propaganda to build support without telling you that it is in fact coming.
New York Times - Euro Zone Crisis Has Increased I.M.F.’s Power. There they are again, the IMF controlling economic policies of nations.
CBS New York - Long Island Goes Cutting Edge On School Security: Live Feeds To Police Cars. I will say it again, gun control was going to fail (and it did) and constant monitoring of our children in school was the real aim and it is here. We are going to teach our children that they are only safe if the police can monitor them 24/7.
New York Times - Looking Overseas, Businesses Learn to Master Currency Exchange. This is just more propaganda on why we need international control over the setting of currencies. It talks about how India's currency exchange rate endangered a small business. The push is to have global controls over national currencies and again is exactly in line with what the IMF has proposed.
Well, that is all for today. Hope that gives my regular readers some things to consider. I feel bad that my most read posts have nothing to do with what I usually write about. For quite a while now this blog has mainly been concerned with economic issues and that is how I spent my career, studying these things. This blog has been an amazing journey and constantly causes me to search the news for trends that have not been fully exposed. It is a pleasant diversion and a healthy hobby usually. I make no money from this blog, it is not and will never be monetized. I get about 1,500 hits a month, not an amazing amount and not surprising except in the fact that I even get that many. It has no single focus or issue and I never know what I will write about in advance. Thanks for sharing this journey with me.
What we are interring is a revolution. It will be like the industrial revolution or the technological revolution; but, this time we don't end better off. We are entering a time when society does not need as many people to continue advancing technologically, industrially and intellectually (or so many believe). We are entering a time when we will have fewer children and in exchange we will live longer and we will work longer.
Lets say that you could live to be 300 years old and in good health; but, you were only allowed to have the magic potion that allowed you to do this if you agreed to have no children, would you do it? What if you could truly sell your unborn children's future and live their life span? When Bush was president he gave aid to Africa; but, the condition was that as their life span approached ours, we would give less aid. It was the first time we ever connected lifespan to aid. I wrote a post on it a long time ago and I am not even sure if it is on this version of the blog.
I am not against technology, I am not against having a one world electronic currency, I am not against a lot of things I comment on. I am against us making decisions on these issues based upon alarmist and last minute information. I am against being given deceitful explanations of what is going on that appeal to our biases and obsessions. I think the questions I ask are much more important that the facts I present, the answers define who we are and that matters for eternity.
Yahoo - Reuters - Analysts discuss paradigm shift: breaking up banks. This is just confirmation that the IMF and FDIC-Bank of England plan is going to happen.
The Weekly Standard - Kerry Welcomes Chinese Investment in America's Infrastructure. Kerry says that the Chinese should invest in our infrastructure projects because they will make money from it. Hmmmm, does that mean that all roads will be toll roads? Does that mean that our future infrastructure must be making a profit. Well, read that article and that is what Kerry says, he says all of these projects will be profit making. Think about it.
Huffington Post - Boston Explosions: Cellphones' Service Shut Down In City, Official Says. Okay, simple thing. In the future if a city has an emergency, they might shut off all cellphone service for that city. If they did it once, they could do it again.
Wired - Quirky Partnership Democratizes the Invention of Internet-Connected Devices. Hooray, everything you own can now be connected to the internet, what a surprise.
Cnn - Google boss: Entire world will be online by 2020. And everyone will have internet accessibility by 2020. Then we can all be tracked and monitored and predicted.
Yahoo - Daily Ticker - Sheila Bair on Why the “Vampire Squid” is NOT Too Big To Fail. This is the former head of the FDIC talking about how they will let banks fail and use the FDIC-Bank of England agreement to expedite their bankruptcies and takeovers.
Huffington Post - Galaxy S4 Features: All The New Things That Samsung's Latest Smartphone Can Do. The next Galaxy phone will watch your hand movements and gestures. It also monitors your fitness and how much you are walking. It will also translate voice and writing. With the upcoming healthcare changes, this phone could be used to prove you are not smoking, are walking and are eating properly in order to reduce your health insurance costs, your employer will probably demand it of you.
The Telegraph - Fed and Bank of Japan caused gold crash. Basically the article says that Japan and the Federal Reserve caused the crash in gold prices by printing too much money. You see the coming currency crash is planned and gold will not help you.
Huffington Post - Top Fed Official Warns Of Tougher Capital Requirements For Biggest Banks. Basically banks only need to keep about 10% of the total amount that they have in cash, the rest is in investments and loans. By increasing how much the banks have to keep in cash this will also reduce how much banks can loan. Now consider this action in conjunction with the IMF and FDIC-Bank of England plans and you can see that they are preparing for when the big banks fail. You will get X amount of your savings taken away and in exchange you will get X amount of stock in the bank which will then provide you with a return as people pay off their debts to the banks.
Wired - Meet the First Digital Generation. Now Get Ready to Play by Their Rules.
Huffington Post - Obama's Big Bank Opportunity. More on how we need to break up the "big banks". It is all just propaganda to build support without telling you that it is in fact coming.
New York Times - Euro Zone Crisis Has Increased I.M.F.’s Power. There they are again, the IMF controlling economic policies of nations.
CBS New York - Long Island Goes Cutting Edge On School Security: Live Feeds To Police Cars. I will say it again, gun control was going to fail (and it did) and constant monitoring of our children in school was the real aim and it is here. We are going to teach our children that they are only safe if the police can monitor them 24/7.
New York Times - Looking Overseas, Businesses Learn to Master Currency Exchange. This is just more propaganda on why we need international control over the setting of currencies. It talks about how India's currency exchange rate endangered a small business. The push is to have global controls over national currencies and again is exactly in line with what the IMF has proposed.
Well, that is all for today. Hope that gives my regular readers some things to consider. I feel bad that my most read posts have nothing to do with what I usually write about. For quite a while now this blog has mainly been concerned with economic issues and that is how I spent my career, studying these things. This blog has been an amazing journey and constantly causes me to search the news for trends that have not been fully exposed. It is a pleasant diversion and a healthy hobby usually. I make no money from this blog, it is not and will never be monetized. I get about 1,500 hits a month, not an amazing amount and not surprising except in the fact that I even get that many. It has no single focus or issue and I never know what I will write about in advance. Thanks for sharing this journey with me.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Jackie Evancho and Some Time Away
One should never post about where they are or where they are going, only on where they have been. A simple security measure. I have just returned from Las Vegas where I attended a concert by Jackie Evancho, the little girl who sings opera and was the runner up on "America's Got Talent", she was simply amazing and charming and so very likeable.
My trip to Vegas began with a 6 hour drive. I arrived in town and had dinner. I went to a nicer restaurant and had a wonderful filet Mignon. I was served by two very charming young ladies and for one of them it was her first night. I must have reminded them of the grandfather because they were so very nice to me and we even got to talk a little. In fact, one of them told me that she really liked my voice and wondered if I was in radio, lol. The other young lady berated me that I needed to finish everything on my plate or I would be in trouble. It was a great start to a great weekend. They were two very pretty and very nice young ladies and I wish them well as they begin their journey.
After dinner I gambled a little and listened to the band at the nightclub, I was staying at a casino. I bought the band a round and they came by and spoke to me. It was fun getting to know them and I enjoyed their selection of songs. The following day I went to see Miss Evancho at the Smith Center. I regret to say that I took no pictures and they were not allowed. It turned out that the 13th was Miss Evancho's birthday and Elvis brought her out a cake at the end. Aside from being incredibly talented, she showed real poise and grace and remains a kid.
This trip was my gift to myself. After 6 years, I have finally paid off all my debt and had a little left over. I rented a hotel room for two nights, ate well and met all kinds of new friends. Most importantly, I got to see and hear Miss Evancho perform. A fascinating experience, I saw little girls come to see her sing and they dressed up in lovely little dresses. When I arrived, I noticed a man who worked for the theater stopping the children that entered and he had a bag, he said that Miss Evancho wanted to have something, I did not see what he gave them from the bag. I thought it was touching.
This morning I began my drive home. I hit a sandstorm, was slowed because of a car that caught on fire and dead tired by the time I got home. I have lots to do tomorrow; but, I am brain dead. Little bit too much road rust in my brain. I must say that I didn't really follow the news while I was gone.
One of the things that impressed me was how the family made sure that Miss Evancho was not pushed or made to work harder than a 13 year old should. She was given breaks during her sets and a 20 minute intermission. I had a very good seat and sat next to a retired musician, he told me how he had seen her a couple times before.
Things are going to get weird friends, the economy is going to totally change as I have discussed in the past. We are going to see more and more joint military and law enforcement drills in major cities. We are not going to war with North Korea, China will take them over before that happens. We are not going to enter a new Dark Ages and the world is not going to end; but, we will see a transformation of the world economy and the United States role in the world. I expect we will return to our isolationist ways and the emerging economies will outstrip us in wealth. Oh, well, just what it is.
When we see these changes, we should not be worried. The world is not uncertain and things will follow a very specific pattern, the only thing is most of the world doesn't pay attention to history. When the towers fell, people were looking for terrorists underneath their beds in towns that had less than 10,000 people. Americans expect a certain consistency to our lives and life just doesn't work that way. Still, tomorrow Miss Evancho will sing again, farmers will grow food, waiters will wait and the world will go on. Empires cease being empires and that is just history. Enjoy everyday as you can, some are good, some are not so good; but, they are our days and we should get what we can from them. Brain dead and signing off. I will leave you with a song that Miss Evancho did not sing; but, is my favorite that she has sung.
YouTube - Jackie Evancho - Nessun Dorma - Britain's Got Talent - 2011
My trip to Vegas began with a 6 hour drive. I arrived in town and had dinner. I went to a nicer restaurant and had a wonderful filet Mignon. I was served by two very charming young ladies and for one of them it was her first night. I must have reminded them of the grandfather because they were so very nice to me and we even got to talk a little. In fact, one of them told me that she really liked my voice and wondered if I was in radio, lol. The other young lady berated me that I needed to finish everything on my plate or I would be in trouble. It was a great start to a great weekend. They were two very pretty and very nice young ladies and I wish them well as they begin their journey.
After dinner I gambled a little and listened to the band at the nightclub, I was staying at a casino. I bought the band a round and they came by and spoke to me. It was fun getting to know them and I enjoyed their selection of songs. The following day I went to see Miss Evancho at the Smith Center. I regret to say that I took no pictures and they were not allowed. It turned out that the 13th was Miss Evancho's birthday and Elvis brought her out a cake at the end. Aside from being incredibly talented, she showed real poise and grace and remains a kid.
This trip was my gift to myself. After 6 years, I have finally paid off all my debt and had a little left over. I rented a hotel room for two nights, ate well and met all kinds of new friends. Most importantly, I got to see and hear Miss Evancho perform. A fascinating experience, I saw little girls come to see her sing and they dressed up in lovely little dresses. When I arrived, I noticed a man who worked for the theater stopping the children that entered and he had a bag, he said that Miss Evancho wanted to have something, I did not see what he gave them from the bag. I thought it was touching.
This morning I began my drive home. I hit a sandstorm, was slowed because of a car that caught on fire and dead tired by the time I got home. I have lots to do tomorrow; but, I am brain dead. Little bit too much road rust in my brain. I must say that I didn't really follow the news while I was gone.
One of the things that impressed me was how the family made sure that Miss Evancho was not pushed or made to work harder than a 13 year old should. She was given breaks during her sets and a 20 minute intermission. I had a very good seat and sat next to a retired musician, he told me how he had seen her a couple times before.
Things are going to get weird friends, the economy is going to totally change as I have discussed in the past. We are going to see more and more joint military and law enforcement drills in major cities. We are not going to war with North Korea, China will take them over before that happens. We are not going to enter a new Dark Ages and the world is not going to end; but, we will see a transformation of the world economy and the United States role in the world. I expect we will return to our isolationist ways and the emerging economies will outstrip us in wealth. Oh, well, just what it is.
When we see these changes, we should not be worried. The world is not uncertain and things will follow a very specific pattern, the only thing is most of the world doesn't pay attention to history. When the towers fell, people were looking for terrorists underneath their beds in towns that had less than 10,000 people. Americans expect a certain consistency to our lives and life just doesn't work that way. Still, tomorrow Miss Evancho will sing again, farmers will grow food, waiters will wait and the world will go on. Empires cease being empires and that is just history. Enjoy everyday as you can, some are good, some are not so good; but, they are our days and we should get what we can from them. Brain dead and signing off. I will leave you with a song that Miss Evancho did not sing; but, is my favorite that she has sung.
YouTube - Jackie Evancho - Nessun Dorma - Britain's Got Talent - 2011
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Short Post, not much exciting in the news
First up is an article from Zero Hedge - Portugal Considers Paying Public Workers In Treasury Bills Instead Of Cash. There are a lot of people out there who are willing to talk about how the currencies are being destroyed and other economic news not in the mainstream; but, I differ with most of them in that I am not trying to sell gold and I do not believe we are going to go to a gold backed currency standard. I am not promoting the man's site or the opinions, I did however find the Portuguese possibilities interesting. It is basically the same approach as the FDIC/Bank of England approach, pay people in stock in part. Treasury bonds are basically stock in the government.
South China Morning Post - China looking at direct yuan trade with Australian dollar. Just another country ceasing to rely on the dollar for foreign trade.
Wired - Now Your iPhone Can Read Fingerprints, Scan Irises and ID Your Face. Well, I never saw that coming. Okay, I said it was coming for the past few years. All we need now is a legal case that states that even though the police can freely examine your smart phone, they will not be able to force you to bio-metrically identify yourself to your phone as that would be like being forced to incriminate yourself and that is unconstitutional. Remember, the new phones know when you are looking away and will stop movies or do whatever else you want when you look away.
ars technica - Polynesian DNA mysteriously shows up in a Brazilian tribe. In college, undergraduate, my professors wanted me to go into teaching, they wanted me to join them in the big family of Political Science professors. Getting into Law School was ridiculously easy. Aside from the fact that I was actively invited to a law school, one of my recommendations came from a professor who had been quoted by the Supreme Court. But, all the other professors wanted me to teach and one of them in particular wanted me to be the expert on Polynesian governance and consequences of our intervention.
Part of my fascination with the Polynesians was there ability to travel 1/3rd of the world in canoes. It has always been my contention that the Polynesians must have landed in the Americas; but, traditional anthropologists and archeologists have said that it never occurred. Well, it did. According to the above article Polynesian DNA has been shown in a Brazilian tribe from the other side of Brazil. There was another man named Thor Heyerdahl who had similar beliefs. The article is funny because it turns out even with the genetic evidence, mainstream science does not wish to accept that the Polynesians came to the Americas. It is enough genetic evidence to convict a rapist; but, not enough to prove the obvious. Did you know that they found paintings of elephants in South America even though there is no evidence it ever had elephants?
I like geologists and materials testers. I like geologists because they are science guys with a sense of humor and they are fascinated by rocks. They are like science kids, they like to deal with the tangible. I like the tangible; but, I love philosophy more, I like that which you have to weigh on a moral scale, those are the tough questions and the ones that define who we are and who we want to be. There is a geologist that was asked by Archeologists to determine the age of the Sphinx. He looked at the erosion on the Sphinx and determined it was around 10,000 years B.C. when Archeologists claim it to be around 4,000 years old. He pointed out that the erosion on the Sphinx was due to water and that there had not been water in the area for 12,000 years. The Archeologists attacked him and said he knew nothing about Archeology or Egyptology, he admitted he did not, he just knew about rocks. He had no hidden agenda. That is what I like about Geologists. It is just a rock; but, even the rock tells a story and it cannot make one up.
I gave a sermon a little bit ago, I talked about the coming economic problems. One of the congregation asked me what they should do and I told them that it did not really matter what they did. One of the pastoral staff, after the service, said my sermon didn't quite work. He said he expected me to tell some biblical principal and then tell people how we should act on the principal. He was confused that I had no advice for how to respond to the coming economic problems. Sometimes the answer is just that you should understand what is going on in the world, sometimes it is about being discerning and mentally prepared. I don't ever want my readers to be overly agitated about the changes going on around us, they cannot stop them and neither can I.
The three beliefs that I promote that really upset people are faith, forgiveness and celibacy outside of a lifelong commitment to your partner. I have already said that I do not believe government sanctioned marriage is marriage just because the government sanctioned it. Faith is annoying because it only really exists if we live by what we say we believe. Marriage commitment is annoying because it means that government sanction or not, if you sleep with someone you become one with them. Forgiveness is the hardest for most because we so often treasure our anger and our resentment. We all get angry; but, it becomes an idol when we treasure our anger.
The question is always the same, what agenda have we hidden from ourselves. Why is it so hard to believe that the Polynesians could have come to the Americas. Why is it so heretical to think that the Sphinx may be older than tradition says? What is the answer that we are really afraid of? I shall try and write more often. Have a great week.
South China Morning Post - China looking at direct yuan trade with Australian dollar. Just another country ceasing to rely on the dollar for foreign trade.
Wired - Now Your iPhone Can Read Fingerprints, Scan Irises and ID Your Face. Well, I never saw that coming. Okay, I said it was coming for the past few years. All we need now is a legal case that states that even though the police can freely examine your smart phone, they will not be able to force you to bio-metrically identify yourself to your phone as that would be like being forced to incriminate yourself and that is unconstitutional. Remember, the new phones know when you are looking away and will stop movies or do whatever else you want when you look away.
ars technica - Polynesian DNA mysteriously shows up in a Brazilian tribe. In college, undergraduate, my professors wanted me to go into teaching, they wanted me to join them in the big family of Political Science professors. Getting into Law School was ridiculously easy. Aside from the fact that I was actively invited to a law school, one of my recommendations came from a professor who had been quoted by the Supreme Court. But, all the other professors wanted me to teach and one of them in particular wanted me to be the expert on Polynesian governance and consequences of our intervention.
Part of my fascination with the Polynesians was there ability to travel 1/3rd of the world in canoes. It has always been my contention that the Polynesians must have landed in the Americas; but, traditional anthropologists and archeologists have said that it never occurred. Well, it did. According to the above article Polynesian DNA has been shown in a Brazilian tribe from the other side of Brazil. There was another man named Thor Heyerdahl who had similar beliefs. The article is funny because it turns out even with the genetic evidence, mainstream science does not wish to accept that the Polynesians came to the Americas. It is enough genetic evidence to convict a rapist; but, not enough to prove the obvious. Did you know that they found paintings of elephants in South America even though there is no evidence it ever had elephants?
I like geologists and materials testers. I like geologists because they are science guys with a sense of humor and they are fascinated by rocks. They are like science kids, they like to deal with the tangible. I like the tangible; but, I love philosophy more, I like that which you have to weigh on a moral scale, those are the tough questions and the ones that define who we are and who we want to be. There is a geologist that was asked by Archeologists to determine the age of the Sphinx. He looked at the erosion on the Sphinx and determined it was around 10,000 years B.C. when Archeologists claim it to be around 4,000 years old. He pointed out that the erosion on the Sphinx was due to water and that there had not been water in the area for 12,000 years. The Archeologists attacked him and said he knew nothing about Archeology or Egyptology, he admitted he did not, he just knew about rocks. He had no hidden agenda. That is what I like about Geologists. It is just a rock; but, even the rock tells a story and it cannot make one up.
I gave a sermon a little bit ago, I talked about the coming economic problems. One of the congregation asked me what they should do and I told them that it did not really matter what they did. One of the pastoral staff, after the service, said my sermon didn't quite work. He said he expected me to tell some biblical principal and then tell people how we should act on the principal. He was confused that I had no advice for how to respond to the coming economic problems. Sometimes the answer is just that you should understand what is going on in the world, sometimes it is about being discerning and mentally prepared. I don't ever want my readers to be overly agitated about the changes going on around us, they cannot stop them and neither can I.
The three beliefs that I promote that really upset people are faith, forgiveness and celibacy outside of a lifelong commitment to your partner. I have already said that I do not believe government sanctioned marriage is marriage just because the government sanctioned it. Faith is annoying because it only really exists if we live by what we say we believe. Marriage commitment is annoying because it means that government sanction or not, if you sleep with someone you become one with them. Forgiveness is the hardest for most because we so often treasure our anger and our resentment. We all get angry; but, it becomes an idol when we treasure our anger.
The question is always the same, what agenda have we hidden from ourselves. Why is it so hard to believe that the Polynesians could have come to the Americas. Why is it so heretical to think that the Sphinx may be older than tradition says? What is the answer that we are really afraid of? I shall try and write more often. Have a great week.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Some News That is Not New
I try and keep up on interesting news; but, as I was saving links for the last week, I didn't post them all because I really wanted to post the IMF, FDIC-Bank of England document and the other financial stuff. I am going to try and just flood you with interesting stuff and minimal commentary.
Before I get into the links, my take on the North Korean "threats". The head of the country is the young son of the previous dictator. He has already ousted some of the leading military leaders under him, this was most likely done to prevent a coup. He is now setting out to show the people of North Korea that he is more modern (mainly through his wife's wardrobe) and prove to the people of North Korea that he is not afraid of the United States. All his threats are for internal consumption and he is mostly being ignored by the United States government. Reports say that China is approaching North Korea's border, this is not to antagonize the west as China really likes becoming the number one economy, it is being done to let the United States know that if North Korea does attack anyone, the Chinese will step in and put an end to it without us needing to invade. This is actually going to be seen by the military in North Korea to show that their president is not as supported as he would like them to think. This is abundantly clear if anyone reads about how the North Korean actions are being reported in China where they call him "little fatty".
Everyday Health - Electronic Health Records: Doctors Want to Keep Patients Out. Now, the press is acting like it is a bad thing that doctors don't want to let patients see all their health records; but, I agree with the doctors. I went to a therapist for awhile, I actually miss seeing him, wonderful man. Anyways, he took notes, the note were not for me, they were his thoughts so that he could remember what he thought when I was talking. They were not a diagnosis, they were working papers. You don't want to create a situation where your doctor is afraid to consider different things.
CNN - How your movements create a GPS 'fingerprint'. They make it sound like this something new that has only come to light because of GPS tracking, it is not, this is something that law enforcement and intelligence has known for a very long time. It is breaks in your pattern that cause people to take a second look. The only thing that has changed is that this information can be automatically collected on anyone with a cell phone or has a chipped dog.
Business Without Borders - The birth of a global currency. Nope, we are going to have a single international currency. The rise of the Yuan stories are there to scare us all into accepting the international currency rather than the Yuan. It is simple, the Chines no longer need to trade in dollars, they trade in goods. If the Chinese suddenly said that they would only accept Yuans, that would completely kill the dollar and they don't seem to want to do that in that manner. They will agree to an international currency instead.
International Business Times - Computer Fraud And Abuse Act 2013: New CFAA Draft Aims To Expand, Not Reform, The ‘Worst Law In Technology’. This law outlaws the "unauthorized access" of computers according to the article. The article goes on to say that it outlaws the access of information over the internet for "impermissible uses". This means that information you access, even though it is legal to access it, can be made criminal if you plan on using it in a wrong manner. Lets say that you were a pedophile who used to download child porn and the court prohibited you from using the internet. If you borrowed your friends computer to look at pictures of clothed children, you would have violated both laws. We might all be okay with that; but, firstly it sounds like double jeopardy and more importantly, this same law could be wildly misused. Lets say I was mad at my wife and said I was going to get her and then I went online to look at buying a gun. They could call that actions in furtherance of a crime and charge me with attempted whatever. Thought crimes.
RT - Facial recognition and GPS tracking: TrapWire company conducting even more surveillance. I don't feel like summarizing it, you can read one lousy article.
Christian Science Monitor - UPS to pay $40 million for illegal drug deliveries. This is just to remind you that non-postal service deliveries are not protected.
Wired - Pentagon’s Mad Scientists Want a Tattoo That Tracks Troops’ Vitals. Hey, I wrote about these tattoos before and the medical aspect.
Before I get into the links, my take on the North Korean "threats". The head of the country is the young son of the previous dictator. He has already ousted some of the leading military leaders under him, this was most likely done to prevent a coup. He is now setting out to show the people of North Korea that he is more modern (mainly through his wife's wardrobe) and prove to the people of North Korea that he is not afraid of the United States. All his threats are for internal consumption and he is mostly being ignored by the United States government. Reports say that China is approaching North Korea's border, this is not to antagonize the west as China really likes becoming the number one economy, it is being done to let the United States know that if North Korea does attack anyone, the Chinese will step in and put an end to it without us needing to invade. This is actually going to be seen by the military in North Korea to show that their president is not as supported as he would like them to think. This is abundantly clear if anyone reads about how the North Korean actions are being reported in China where they call him "little fatty".
Everyday Health - Electronic Health Records: Doctors Want to Keep Patients Out. Now, the press is acting like it is a bad thing that doctors don't want to let patients see all their health records; but, I agree with the doctors. I went to a therapist for awhile, I actually miss seeing him, wonderful man. Anyways, he took notes, the note were not for me, they were his thoughts so that he could remember what he thought when I was talking. They were not a diagnosis, they were working papers. You don't want to create a situation where your doctor is afraid to consider different things.
CNN - How your movements create a GPS 'fingerprint'. They make it sound like this something new that has only come to light because of GPS tracking, it is not, this is something that law enforcement and intelligence has known for a very long time. It is breaks in your pattern that cause people to take a second look. The only thing that has changed is that this information can be automatically collected on anyone with a cell phone or has a chipped dog.
Business Without Borders - The birth of a global currency. Nope, we are going to have a single international currency. The rise of the Yuan stories are there to scare us all into accepting the international currency rather than the Yuan. It is simple, the Chines no longer need to trade in dollars, they trade in goods. If the Chinese suddenly said that they would only accept Yuans, that would completely kill the dollar and they don't seem to want to do that in that manner. They will agree to an international currency instead.
International Business Times - Computer Fraud And Abuse Act 2013: New CFAA Draft Aims To Expand, Not Reform, The ‘Worst Law In Technology’. This law outlaws the "unauthorized access" of computers according to the article. The article goes on to say that it outlaws the access of information over the internet for "impermissible uses". This means that information you access, even though it is legal to access it, can be made criminal if you plan on using it in a wrong manner. Lets say that you were a pedophile who used to download child porn and the court prohibited you from using the internet. If you borrowed your friends computer to look at pictures of clothed children, you would have violated both laws. We might all be okay with that; but, firstly it sounds like double jeopardy and more importantly, this same law could be wildly misused. Lets say I was mad at my wife and said I was going to get her and then I went online to look at buying a gun. They could call that actions in furtherance of a crime and charge me with attempted whatever. Thought crimes.
RT - Facial recognition and GPS tracking: TrapWire company conducting even more surveillance. I don't feel like summarizing it, you can read one lousy article.
Christian Science Monitor - UPS to pay $40 million for illegal drug deliveries. This is just to remind you that non-postal service deliveries are not protected.
Wired - Pentagon’s Mad Scientists Want a Tattoo That Tracks Troops’ Vitals. Hey, I wrote about these tattoos before and the medical aspect.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
The Future of the Dollar and why it must fall
I have been reading articles talking about how the Russians, Chinese, Brazilians, Indians, Australians and other countries are moving away from using the dollar as the world's reserve currency. Many are complaining that these countries are turning their backs on us; but, that is not a fair comment. Why should they use the dollar as the reserve currency when we are inflating it?
Imagine this scenario. Your neighbor lends you $1,000, you take that money and buy yourself a television set. You are supposed to pay your neighbor $110 a month for ten months; but, each month you delay paying him, you actually pay him less because inflation is going at 20% a month. You are cheating your neighbor by paying with money that is worth less than the value of the money at the time you borrowed it.
Now lets consider what went on with our economy and the dollar. After World War II the oil producing nations agreed to only use dollars when people bought oil. So, if China wanted to buy oil they had to have dollars. After going off the gold standard, the dollars ceased being backed by anything other than a trust that the United States would produce more valuable goods to be sold oversees than it produced dollars.
Ever since the 70s this has been and less true as we have sent our industry oversees where there was cheaper labor and less control over environmental concerns. The same is true for England. The 70s in England were horrifying with very high unemployment and the elimination of their industrial infrastructure. Instead of manufacturing things, England and the United States began making their money from other countries by controlling the world's financial transactions. Basically, banking and insurance. By scamming the financial industry, these countries were able to buy cheap manufactured goods and getting a percentage on all the transactions; but, it also meant higher unemployment and less and less use for lesser skilled employees. It increased the separation between the wealthy and the poor. Only those involved in the financial section really benefited.
Warren Buffet saw this coming and warned us about it. He noticed that CEOs were paid whether the companies succeeded or not based merely on their manipulation of the stock market. The businessmen involved in manufacturing stopped understanding their businesses because they were replaced by "financial experts" who made more from financial transactions then they did from running manufacturing companies well. This was glaring clear in the case of General Motors which made more from servicing loans (including home loans) than they did from manufacturing cars. That is a bad business plan for any country. This led to corporate raiders, people who would take over companies just to sell off the parts for short term gains.
Because the dollar was the world reserve currency, we could get away with cheating other nations and playing the inflation game; but, that time is now coming to an end and we don't have any way to pay our debts with goods or labor (and in the end money is merely a promise of future goods or labor). Cyprus basically made it's money in a similar manner, it was laundering foreign money for a price. As the day of reckoning comes there are only so many options.
We could pay off our foreign debt by selling our natural resources or our infrastructure. We could pay off our debt by eliminating social programs and turning into a third world nation where half our population lives without the basics. We could tax the wealthy more. The truth is taxes and the elimination of social programs will still not give us enough to pay off our debts. The last choice is to declare national bankruptcy, refuse to pay our debts. Now if America defaults on it's national debt, who would ever lend us money (buy treasury bonds) in the future? Why would the rest of the world allow the US and England to control the financial industry? They wouldn't and then we have no industry of significance. No work and no income.
The housing bubble was intentional as I said many years ago. It came into being after 911 when the inherent weakness in the western economies became apparent. The solution was to create an artificial bubble in the economy, the last hurrah of the west. People made insane amounts of money building, buying and selling and other things related to the housing bubble. We were manufacturing houses using Americans and selling at continually inflated prices that had nothing to do with someone's ability to pay. These debts were then packaged and sold to banks worldwide. These bad debts were called derivatives. Because of the housing bubble bursting (people not paying their mortgages), these derivatives have lost much of their value.
So I ask again, why should foreign countries want to buy dollars when we have nothing to sell them that is as valuable as what they sell us? If you lived in China, would you want to trade your labor for dollars when you cannot buy anything with them from America and you can buy oil without using dollars?
The world will and is going off the dollar standard. The question now becomes what replaces it so that international trade will continue. The choices are a gold backed Chinese Yuan or an international standard for currency that no longer allows for individual nations to manipulate the value of the currency. This discussion is being played out for those who don't understand economics in the media. The arguments over ending welfare or reducing the military or increasing taxes are merely theater.
Imagine this scenario. Your neighbor lends you $1,000, you take that money and buy yourself a television set. You are supposed to pay your neighbor $110 a month for ten months; but, each month you delay paying him, you actually pay him less because inflation is going at 20% a month. You are cheating your neighbor by paying with money that is worth less than the value of the money at the time you borrowed it.
Now lets consider what went on with our economy and the dollar. After World War II the oil producing nations agreed to only use dollars when people bought oil. So, if China wanted to buy oil they had to have dollars. After going off the gold standard, the dollars ceased being backed by anything other than a trust that the United States would produce more valuable goods to be sold oversees than it produced dollars.
Ever since the 70s this has been and less true as we have sent our industry oversees where there was cheaper labor and less control over environmental concerns. The same is true for England. The 70s in England were horrifying with very high unemployment and the elimination of their industrial infrastructure. Instead of manufacturing things, England and the United States began making their money from other countries by controlling the world's financial transactions. Basically, banking and insurance. By scamming the financial industry, these countries were able to buy cheap manufactured goods and getting a percentage on all the transactions; but, it also meant higher unemployment and less and less use for lesser skilled employees. It increased the separation between the wealthy and the poor. Only those involved in the financial section really benefited.
Warren Buffet saw this coming and warned us about it. He noticed that CEOs were paid whether the companies succeeded or not based merely on their manipulation of the stock market. The businessmen involved in manufacturing stopped understanding their businesses because they were replaced by "financial experts" who made more from financial transactions then they did from running manufacturing companies well. This was glaring clear in the case of General Motors which made more from servicing loans (including home loans) than they did from manufacturing cars. That is a bad business plan for any country. This led to corporate raiders, people who would take over companies just to sell off the parts for short term gains.
Because the dollar was the world reserve currency, we could get away with cheating other nations and playing the inflation game; but, that time is now coming to an end and we don't have any way to pay our debts with goods or labor (and in the end money is merely a promise of future goods or labor). Cyprus basically made it's money in a similar manner, it was laundering foreign money for a price. As the day of reckoning comes there are only so many options.
We could pay off our foreign debt by selling our natural resources or our infrastructure. We could pay off our debt by eliminating social programs and turning into a third world nation where half our population lives without the basics. We could tax the wealthy more. The truth is taxes and the elimination of social programs will still not give us enough to pay off our debts. The last choice is to declare national bankruptcy, refuse to pay our debts. Now if America defaults on it's national debt, who would ever lend us money (buy treasury bonds) in the future? Why would the rest of the world allow the US and England to control the financial industry? They wouldn't and then we have no industry of significance. No work and no income.
The housing bubble was intentional as I said many years ago. It came into being after 911 when the inherent weakness in the western economies became apparent. The solution was to create an artificial bubble in the economy, the last hurrah of the west. People made insane amounts of money building, buying and selling and other things related to the housing bubble. We were manufacturing houses using Americans and selling at continually inflated prices that had nothing to do with someone's ability to pay. These debts were then packaged and sold to banks worldwide. These bad debts were called derivatives. Because of the housing bubble bursting (people not paying their mortgages), these derivatives have lost much of their value.
So I ask again, why should foreign countries want to buy dollars when we have nothing to sell them that is as valuable as what they sell us? If you lived in China, would you want to trade your labor for dollars when you cannot buy anything with them from America and you can buy oil without using dollars?
The world will and is going off the dollar standard. The question now becomes what replaces it so that international trade will continue. The choices are a gold backed Chinese Yuan or an international standard for currency that no longer allows for individual nations to manipulate the value of the currency. This discussion is being played out for those who don't understand economics in the media. The arguments over ending welfare or reducing the military or increasing taxes are merely theater.
Detroit and Stockton, who decides?
Short post; but, something that has been on my mind. I have read lots of stories about how because Detroit is so bad off, the state is going to take them over. This is quite legal as cities and towns are merely "creatures of the state". They get a state charter to exist. In California, the City of Stockton is seeking bankruptcy in Federal court. This means that the State of California must have consented to the city declaring bankruptcy and is willing to let a federal judge determine how a city in California will be run. Most of the chatter in the media is about whether or not the judge will take public pension funds (that are not city owned) and use them to pay down the city's debt. The bigger question is why the state is not taking over Stockton and managing it, itself. Think about this, can a state declare bankruptcy? If they did, the federal judge could put whoever he wanted in as governor (under the title of financial manager or whatever). I don't believe a state can declare bankruptcy unless it abdicated it's roll as a state.
Now here is the thing. Would you think it was okay if the federal judge took 5% of all the bank accounts in Stockton to pay the city's debts? You would be outraged. Stockton does not have it's own pension plan, it places the employees and city's contributions into the state plan. It is a private bank account, for the employees that is managed partly by the state. It is it's own entity, it is not controlled or owned by the City of Stockton. But, Stockton is owned by the state, all cities are in California.
This is one to watch. Stockton itself is small and meaningless, just like Cyprus. It is the precedent that is being set that tells the tale. In 1975, New York City was looking at declaring bankruptcy, the Teachers Pension Fund lent it $150 million (quite a lot at the time). Today, New York would like to not pay in to the same fund. People here are just arguing over whose bank account gets robbed and that is a shame. It is also a distraction from the biggest issue, the federal government controlling local governments with the permission of the state.
Now here is the thing. Would you think it was okay if the federal judge took 5% of all the bank accounts in Stockton to pay the city's debts? You would be outraged. Stockton does not have it's own pension plan, it places the employees and city's contributions into the state plan. It is a private bank account, for the employees that is managed partly by the state. It is it's own entity, it is not controlled or owned by the City of Stockton. But, Stockton is owned by the state, all cities are in California.
This is one to watch. Stockton itself is small and meaningless, just like Cyprus. It is the precedent that is being set that tells the tale. In 1975, New York City was looking at declaring bankruptcy, the Teachers Pension Fund lent it $150 million (quite a lot at the time). Today, New York would like to not pay in to the same fund. People here are just arguing over whose bank account gets robbed and that is a shame. It is also a distraction from the biggest issue, the federal government controlling local governments with the permission of the state.
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